02 09 Gravity Schmavity
by NewDrWhoFan
Summary: The bits that wound up on the floor of the editing room at the end of "The Satan Pit", along with a wee bit more! 10Rose
1. Escape

_While this story could theoretically be read on its own, it's written as a sequel to my stories, "The Girl in the Stalking Spaceship", "Age of Bronze", and "Lantern Extinguished". Enjoy!_

_Thanks again to my betas, KateCarter and Saavik13, for looking this over for me!_

_Disclaimer: Surprise, surprise, I don't own Doctor Who. Nor do I get anything from writing these stories--except wonderful, constructive reviews! Wink, wink; nudge, nudge ;)_

* * *

Chapter 1, Escape

The Doctor climbed to his feet amidst the tremors in the cavern. "Oh, you beautiful girl," he said to the TARDIS, fitting his key into the lock. He burst through the doors and up to the console. Flipping a series of levers, he looked in dismay at the scanner. "Coordinates unknown?! How can they be unknown?" he asked his ship. "Never mind. If dematerialization's out, we'll fly the old fashioned way!" With that, he launched the TARDIS into the air, soaring out of the pit. The Doctor watched in amazement as the readout ticked off the miles he'd fallen. He very well might have been at the center of the planet.

As the TARDIS landed at the edge of the pit, the Doctor was nearly knocked off his feet with the planet's convulsions. He raced out through the doors, quickly discovering the unconscious Ida and drawing her into the ship. He took only enough time to remove her helmet before he was back at the console, attempting another dematerialization sequence. "Still no coordinates? Fine!" He steered the TARDIS up the shaft, determined to reach the sanctuary base before it was swept off the face of the planet.

To his horror, ten miles up, the scanner displayed the bare and quickly-disintegrating surface of the planet. Not a trace of the base remained. "The rocket," he murmured, initiating a scan of the surrounding space. Relief flooded him as the TARDIS located and locked onto the rocket, which, in the absence of the gravity funnel, was now hurtling back towards the planet and the black hole beyond.

"Three sets of human life signs detected," the Doctor read from the display. So, the Ood hadn't escaped. Neither had half the crew.

But was Rose even on board?

It seemed the TARDIS had read his mind—which she very well might have—because, in the right hand corner of the screen, the flashing words, "TARDIS KEY DETECTED" appeared. "Brilliant!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Knew I was right to believe in you, Rose Tyler!" he said, becoming decidedly "not giddy" at how close he was to seeing Rose again. Alright, so, he was excited. Sue him.

The Doctor stepped away from the console to check on Ida as the TARDIS moved to intercept the rocket. She was still unconscious, but breathing well, and her pulse was steady. He propped her feet up, then returned to the console, increasing the oxygen content of the onboard atmosphere, just as the rocket came within range.

A quick manipulation of the TARDIS' gravity field, and the rocket was safely in tow, headed for normal space. After just a bit of jiggery pokery, the Doctor had the rocket's comm. patched into the TARDIS.

He heard Zach's astonished voice, apparently unaware that he was now broadcasting. "We're turning around. We're turning away!"

"Sorry about the hijack, captain," the Doctor replied. "This is the good ship TARDIS. Now, first things first: have you got a Rose Tyler on board?"

The most beautiful sound in the universe—to the Doctor, anyway—came in response. "I'm here! It's me! Oh, my God! Where are you?"

The Doctor couldn't help but smile, hearing his own relief mirrored in Rose's voice. "I'm just towing you home. Gravity, schmavity. My people practically invented black holes. Well, in fact, they did. In a couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe. Oh, and captain, can we do a swap? Say, if you give me Rose Tyler . . . I'll give you Ida Scott? How about that?"

"She's alive!" _"_Yes! Thank God," the Doctor heard Zach and Danny yell over the comm.

He glanced over at Ida. "Yeah, bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be all right. I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet." The TARDIS signaled that they were clear of the black hole's gravitational pull. "Ah! Entering clear space. End of the line, mission closed."

At long last, the Doctor was able to set up a dematerialization sequence, but he wasn't about to put the TARDIS through too much strain. One quick hop into the rocket's cargo hold, then he'd let her get nice and recalibrated.

* * *

_To be continued._


	2. Reunion

Chapter 2, Reunion

Rose heard the sound of the TARDIS' engines emanating from within the rocket. She only vaguely registered Zach ordering Danny after her as she unbuckled and raced out of the cockpit. She followed the sound until she saw the beautiful blue box coming into view in front of her. Danny skidded to a halt beside her, and she laughed out loud both at his awestruck expression and out of pure relief. As soon as the TARDIS was fully materialized, Rose moved to unlock the doors. But before she could even get her key out from around her neck, the doors opened. The Doctor stepped out with a groggy Ida held to his side, barely shuffling her own feet.

"Nice to see you," said Rose with a smile, and much more calmly than she'd expected of herself. She'd half imagined running up to the Doctor and covering his face with kisses. Instead, she slipped Ida's free arm over her shoulders and helped him carry her out into the hold.

"You too," said the Doctor, grinning at her over Ida's head. He turned to where Danny was still gaping at the magic blue box. "Danny," called the Doctor. "Danny!" he shouted, finally shaking him out of his stupor.

"Sorry, right," said Danny, rushing over to Ida, and taking her from the Doctor.

"Let Zach know we'll be a few minutes yet; I've got to run a diagnostic and make sure the TARDIS is properly calibrated before we can leave," the Doctor told him. He gave Rose another smile before heading into the TARDIS.

"Right," said Danny, shaking his head as the Doctor reentered the TARDIS, and closed the doors behind him. "That's your ship?" he asked Rose.

"Don't knock it 'til ya try it," she answered, turning back to the task at hand after watching the Doctor disappear behind the doors. They began to make their way back to the cockpit, but stopped at the sound of Ida's voice.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"You're on the rocket," answered Rose, helping to steady her on her own feet. "You're safe, now."

"We're going home," supplied Zach.

"Oh, thank God," she muttered.

Danny pulled her back to his side, but turned to Rose. "I can take her from here," he told her. "Thanks."

"No problem," said Rose, turning to follow the Doctor back into the TARDIS.

Opening the door, she saw the Doctor standing at the console. He looked up and smiled at her, then moved to meet her as she ran up the ramp. She ran into the Doctor's arms, practically squealing with glee as he picked her up and swung her, holding her in a crushing hug.

A myriad of thoughts and questions swirled in her mind. "Ida said you fell!" she accused gently. "And how'd you find the TARDIS?"

"So many questions; can it wait 'til I'm out of this spacesuit?" he asked, still holding her tightly.

Rose slid to her feet. "I thought I was never gonna see you again!" she said, as she helped him pull off his gloves and boots, and unbuckle, unfasten, and unzip his way out of the orange monstrosity.

"Oh, ye of little faith," the Doctor mocked with a smile. He kicked his way free of the last of the suit, stepping closer to Rose. "Now, where were we?" he asked with a grin.

Rose leapt back into his arms for another desperate hug. The Doctor swung her completely around, eliciting a surprised scream. The Doctor set her on her feet once again, and Rose caught her breath. "As I was saying," she began, "what happ--"

The Doctor's lips were on hers, his fingers threaded in her hair, holding her to him. Rose just had time to bring her hands up around his back, when he broke the kiss and smiled down at her. "Missed you," he said, simply.

"Yeah," was Rose's breathless reply. She licked her lips, blinking rather stupidly at him. At his supremely smug grin, she cleared her throat and said, "Missed ya, too."

The Doctor smiled, took Rose's hand, and led her to the console.

* * *

_To be continued._


	3. Onwards, Upwards

Chapter 3, Onwards, Upwards

"So, what needs calibrating?" Rose asked casually. It was clear the Doctor didn't want to talk about what had happened since their separation--not that she could find it within herself to complain about his distraction tactics. Her stomach was still doing little flips over his kiss.

The Doctor stood by the scanner, turning dials and flipping switches, all the while maintaining his grip on her hand. "Just need to make sure the TARDIS has got a good lock on her current position before we try to fly off to somewhere else. Being on that planet put her a bit out of range, sort of like your phone."

At that, Rose fished her mobile out from her pocket. "Ha!" she exclaimed, jumping up to give the Doctor a quick kiss on the cheek. "I've got a signal!" she sang happily. She dialed her Mum while the Doctor continued to work. When the call picked up, Rose squeezed the Doctor's hand, then withdrew her own to cradle the phone to her ear. "Mum?"

"Rose, honey, is that you?" came Jackie's voice over the line.

"Yeah, it's me, is this a bad time?" Rose asked. She thought her mum sounded just a bit distracted.

"No, it's fine. I've just got a mate over, is all."

"I won't keep ya if you've got company," Rose said, wondering who it would be that she hadn't volunteered a name.

"Is anythin' wrong? Are you safe?" her Mum asked.

"No, yeah, we're fine, everythin's great!" Rose looked back at the Doctor and returned his smile.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, I just miss you so much."

"I miss you too, Mum," she answered rather automatically, watching the Doctor while he worked at the console.

"You're sure everythin's alright?"

Rose realized that her mind had been wandering. "Really, everythin's fine; I just wanted to say hi. Look, I gotta go now, but we'll come by in a bit, yeah?"

"Oh, that'd be lovely. How soon'll ya be here?"

"I dunno, but we'll see you soon, alright? I love you."

"I love you, too. I'll see you soon," said Jackie

"See ya then," said Rose, trying to end the conversation as gently as she could.

"Alright," said Jackie, sounding reluctant to do the same. "Be careful," she added.

"We will. Bye."

"Bye," said Jackie at last.

"Soon?" asked the Doctor with an adorable pout when Rose pocketed her phone.

"Well," answered Rose, taking his hand again, "doesn't have to be right away. But I have got loads of washing to do--unless you're ready to fix the TARDIS's washer?"

He grimaced. "What a choice," he muttered.

Just then, the console beeped, apparently signaling completion of the diagnostic. "All set," the Doctor told her. Rose reluctantly let his hand go as he began setting their next course and activated the comm. "Zach? We'll be off, now. Have a good trip home. And the next time you get curious about something--oh, what's the point? You'll just go blundering in." He looked at Rose with affection. "The human race," he teased.

Rose smiled and was about to retort, when she heard Ida's voice.

"But Doctor, what did you find down there? That creature--what was it?"

Rose swallowed against the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. In the excitement of the Doctor coming to the rescue, she'd almost forgotten about the possessed Ood, Toby, the Beast, what it had said about her--

"I don't know," the Doctor replied over the comm. "Never did decipher that writing. But that's good! Day I know everything? Might as well stop."

"What do you think it was?" Rose asked quietly. "Really."

**"**I think . . . we beat it. That's good enough for me."

"It said I was gonna die in battle," she persisted.

The Doctor looked her in the eye. "Then it lied," he told her.

Rose forced a small smile. She wasn't positive that she believed it herself, but the Doctor seemed to.

"Right," said the Doctor, breaking the somber mood. "Onwards, upwards! Ida, see you again, maybe!"

"I hope so," Ida replied.

Rose chimed in, "And thanks, boys!"

"Hang on though, Doctor," came Ida's voice again. "You never really said--you two--who are you?"

"Oh," he looked at Rose, and she waited to hear what he'd say. "The stuff of legend."

* * *

_To be continued._


	4. Drifting

_And now, the conclusion :)_

* * *

Chapter 4, Drifting

"Where're we headed?" asked Rose as the TARDIS left the rocket and its crew behind.

The Doctor finished with the controls and took her hand again. "Just setting us adrift in the vortex for a bit," he answered. "Give the TARDIS some more time to recoup."

"So, ya gonna tell me what happened on the planet? Can't keep kissing me forever," Rose chided.

"Can't I though," replied the Doctor. At Rose's wide-eyed expression, he suddenly realized the implications of his comment. "Erm, ah." He felt himself actually blushing, but not from being misunderstood. In that instant, he imagined a lifetime's worth of kisses, without having to invent an excuse for each one. Of course, that only reminded him of the disparity between their respective life expectancies.

Rose just laughed it off. "C'mon," she said, swinging his hand, "what happened?"

The Doctor backed into the captain's chair, bringing Rose to sit beside him. He stared at the time rotor, trying to decide how much to tell her. He didn't want her to put too much faith in the beast's prediction. It had obviously shaken her--him, too, if he were honest.

"Ida said you fell into the pit," Rose prompted.

As good a place to start as any, the Doctor figured. He propped his feet up on the console, trying to appear casual. "Yeah, I did, sort of," he admitted. Rose bit her lip, but didn't say anything, so the Doctor launched into the story. "There was no way for us to get back up to the base in the capsule, so we rigged the cable to abseil into the pit. We couldn't see the bottom, but we had ten miles' worth of cable."

"So if you used the cable, why'd she say you fell?" asked Rose.

"Well, the pit was deeper than ten miles," the Doctor answered.

"You jumped. You let go."

Always the clever one, Rose, he thought. "We were stuck there, running out of air anyway," defended the Doctor. "I wouldn't even have gone down into the pit otherwise, curious or no." He remembered his almost-message to Rose, and resolved right there not to leave it unsaid or to someone else to relate. Of course, he had no idea how to go about telling her himself . . . .

"What happened?"

The Doctor snapped out of his musings. "I must have blacked out," he admitted. "But there was air below, a cushion of breathable air. I woke up at the bottom of the pit." He paused again, not wanting to impress her with the Devil-ness of the beast. "There were paintings on the walls of the cavern, made by whoever set up the whole planet and gravity funnel and all that. It depicted a battle, man against beast, ending with the beast's imprisonment. Now, as you know, the beast was manipulating a telepathic field, trying to find a way for his, well, essence to escape. What was imprisoned within the planet was only its physical form. I heard the rocket lift off and guessed that he was trying to hitch a ride."

"You were right," interrupted Rose. "It was Toby. It'd taken him over. He was all covered with the writing he'd found, and breathing fire 'n stuff." She looked as though she meant to say more, but stayed silent after that.

The Doctor continued, "Well, whether we ever escaped or not, I couldn't let something like that get away. Not after all the trouble folks had gone through to keep him locked up. So, I destroyed the trap—the gravity field that was keeping the planet in orbit, and the gravity funnel along with it." He recalled the contradictory emotions from that moment. Certainty that Rose would die; certainty that she'd somehow survive. And he'd acted on the more improbable of the two.

"I killed him," said Rose quietly, keeping her eyes downcast. "I realized it was all a trick to get us to save him from the planet. So I blew out the windshield, or whatever, and unbuckled him. Sent him out into space. Into the black hole."

Something occurred to the Doctor then. "I shouldn't have done it," he said, and Rose's eyes came back up to meet his own. "You'd gotten rid of him. I could have let you escape, instead of pulling you back."

"No," Rose corrected him. "He only showed his true colors after the gravity collapsed." She squeezed his hand. "Really, you did good," she said with a smile.

He smiled back at her. As usual, she amazed him.

"But that still doesn't explain how you got outta there," she observed.

"Right!" said the Doctor, getting back to the story. "Turns out the TARDIS had found its way down into the pit as well. So, I flew back up to get Ida, but when we got up to the surface, the base was already gone. I located the rocket, and the rest, I believe, is history."

"So, the TARDIS was down there the whole time, ever since the collapse?"

"Yup!" answered the Doctor.

"Wow, glad you went down there, then," she said.

"Definitely. Even if we'd escaped on the rocket, we'd still be stuck with a mortgage," observed the Doctor, lightly. _A_ mortgage, he realized he'd said. Not mortgages. Singular. And it seemed to him that Rose had caught the distinction. But she didn't say anything, so he didn't bother taking it back or trying to explain his way out of it.

After a minute or so of comfortable silence, mulling over events, the Doctor realized that Rose hadn't gone into her side of the story. At least, he didn't know how they got away in the rocket, and why only three of them made it. He decided not to press the issue when Rose yawned widely.

"Oh, sorry," she said, belatedly covering her mouth. "I think I need some sleep, if that's alright?"

"Sure," said the Doctor, wondering why she thought she should ask permission.

"I just didn't know how long you were plannin' on driftin' here, or if we'd be goin' somewhere soon," she explained, as if she'd heard his thoughts.

"No, take as long as you need," said the Doctor, dropping his feet from the console and helping Rose to stand. "I'll just take a look at that washer while you rest."

Rose smiled as she turned to make her way to her room. "You're gonna have to see Mum again sometime, ya know, whether ya fix it or not," she teased.

* * *

The Doctor had been up to his elbows in washing machine parts for the past six hours, ever since Rose had headed off to bed. He'd managed two minor explosions, multiple electrocutions, and was fast approaching the point where he was going to ask the TARDIS to simply jettison the uncooperative piece of junk.

"Doctor?" came Rose's voice from behind him.

He stood, divesting himself of the cables he'd draped over his arms, and pocketing his sonic screwdriver. "Rose," he greeted with a smile. "Get enough sleep?" She'd changed her clothes and--braided her hair. It looked nice, but something about it was niggling at the back of his mind--

"Just about," answered Rose. She walked up to him, and brushed away a smudge from his nose. Up close, he noticed how tired she still seemed. "But it's Mum," she said. "She called back, and there's somethin' wrong. Someone's snoopin' around tryin' to get information outta her 'bout us."

The Doctor brushed his hands off on his trousers dramatically, and headed out towards the console room. "Just as well I decided not to fix the washer then, eh?"

"Decided, or were unable?" asked Rose. She was still standing in front of the machine, taking in its multiple pieces.

"Decided after being . . . un- . . . willing," the Doctor conceded. He wasn't quite ready to admit total defeat. He waited for Rose to finish laughing and regain her composure.

As she turned to him, she absently brushed her hand across her face and behind her ear. That was it! thought the Doctor. With her hair in plaits, there were no stray hairs to tuck behind her ear. Just a bit of fringe that didn't fall past her eyes, and an untroublesome bit on the sides. That's what bothered him. One less excuse to touch her.

Taking her hand--which was just as good, he mused--he led her down the corridor. "Now," he said, "let's go see Mum." At Rose's stifled giggle, he reassessed his choice of words. "_Your_ Mum, I mean." She just grinned at him. "Oh, never mind."

* * *

_The end._

_Coming soon, "Love and Monsters"—real original title, don't ya think?_


End file.
